The Alpha left me for dead

Left for dead

Before I even got back into the hut, Odette's handbell was already clanging. I was sure something really bad had happened or was about to happen. That was our only raid bell in the pack, hung at the mill for emergencies. The bell was the only thing that rang through that night.

I opened the door and met Odette gathering her kits.

"Lower village. Move." She didn't look up. "I'll bring the kit behind you."

I ran straight to the lower village without asking any questions, down the river path where the shrine was. The path was silent except for my footsteps. None of the dogs barked, and that was the one thing that bothered me, because dogs knew the smell of death, and whatever was coming smelled dead and dangerous.

I reached the shrine. Just before I opened the door, smoke rose across the river and there was a scream, faint and distant. I pushed the door open onto a few wounded people in the shrine, but there was no time to count or even think that it was a wrong idea for all the wounded to be in one place.

I went straight to the miller's boy; his leg was open to the bone. But there wasn't anything I could do since Odette hadn't brought the kits. Mr. Henderson's wife was also in childbirth labour, grunting as she lay on the children's bed. I moved to her.

"Stay with me. Breathe. Your baby's still coming, nothing's stopping that."

"I'm-- I'm dying. I can feel it, I'm dying."

Her body was soaked in sweat. I propped her against the inside wall.

"You're not dying. You're having a baby. That's all that's happening tonight."

In that moment, there was a scream and we all jumped. I ran straight to the window, and as I peered out, a Hollow Man stood there. My feet went cold -- there were stories of how one Hollow Man could defeat ten alphas. All the stories we'd heard about the Hollow Men were about to be rewritten. How they fought wolves, how they fought men, how they ripped people's skin off their bodies.

Suddenly, they multiplied. Their skin was grey, with visible darker veins, like no blood was flowing in them. Their faces were empty.

"Quiet. All of you. Quiet keeps us alive."

They were already killing the villagers, and they did not kill like raiders. There was no fire. They went door to door and were terrifyingly calm. They were hunting for a specific thing, and every house they entered, they came out with a head.

What could be so valuable that they had to cut off heads?.

The shrine door banged open, and my heart skipped before I recognized who it was -- Cassian and some warriors.

"Thank the Moon Goddess."

Blood was on Cassian's jaw, which wasn't his own, and our eyes met.

"How many?" he asked.

That gave me the chance to count them.

"Nine walking, two not. The miller's boy needs a marrow surgeon or he loses the leg."

"Pass is cut. No one rides to Thornwood tonight." He peeped through the window. Whatever he'd seen he didn't say. "Wren. Cellar. Now."

"What's in the cellar?"

"Now."

We all moved down to the basement, ten of us. I helped the pregnant woman down into the basement and had to go back up for the miller's boy since no one could carry him. I was just three steps out of the cellar when the shrine door broke down from the impact of a kick.

I dragged the boy to the back of the altar and stood in between the boy and the Hollow Man who had just broken the door. I grabbed the sword lying close to the altar. It was as long as my arm, but that wasn't enough explanation for what came over me. I was wolfless. Just a girl with a sword standing in front of a Hollow Man -- I gripped the handle the way I had watched the warriors do, even if I had no skill with it. I was only doing the duty of a healer, even if it was a foolish idea at that moment. I couldn't let the teenage boy get killed that easily without trying to protect him.

He came closer to me but not like someone about to fight, even though I had the sword pointed at him. I wasn't a threat, and as he got in front of me, my hand couldn't move. I couldn't bring myself to do what my mind wants me to do. He covered my face with his hand. When he touched me it didn't feel like skin at all. He brought out a crystal light and tilted my head toward it. After a few seconds of shutting my eyes, he stopped.

He lowered the crystal, and in that moment, something happened that I couldn't understand. My rib, the very part where everyone keeps their wolf, turned red. Like metal in fire, it kept on increasing, but I felt nothing but confusion.

The Hollow Man made a sound I couldn't describe accurately, but it sounded like a growl, with a word I couldn't quite make out. But I guessed he said _found_, judging from the shape of his mouth.

Almost immediately, Cassian burst in. He shifted and pounced on the Hollow Man. I used the chance to grab the boy while the place turned into chaos.

A second Hollow Man came in with a stick of fire. He was midshift. He dropped the fire, which caught other things in the shrine, causing more flame. I thought he was going for Cassian, instead, he came for the boy, and once again I came in between them to protect the boy, the Hollow Man sent me flying as he slashed me with his claws at my ribs.

Everything after that was clouded. My vision blurred, and my body wouldn't move. Only a scream, so loud but distant, and I didn't even realize it was me for a moment.

The next time I opened my eyes it was to the wounded moving out, some in twos helping themselves, some being helped by warriors. Cassian had ordered them to go over the river. I was still on the ground. Couldn't move and I watched them all left.

My legs gave out, so I crawled over the other dead pack members. There was Mr. Henderson, a boy I recognized, and a few others.

Then there was a light, and two figures stood there.

Cassian stood about 20 feet from me. I tried to make a sound, but it didn't come out. I was even weaker, but I still tried to crawl towards him.

"There's movement there, alpha. Something's alive down there." a sergeant said.

Cassian turned toward me. His eyes met mine, and I could swear on my mother's grave that I saw a smirk on his face, and what happened next changed something in me forever.

"Nothing's alive down there. Pull back to the crossing." Cassian ordered and they left.

I lay there among the dead. The light faded, and so did the voices. My body was failing. An hour passed, maybe more and I was waiting for it to end.

I heard boots. And then voices--

"Something's moved over there."

--and then the steps closed in on me. And the last thing I remembered was--

"Thank the Moon Goddess. Fetch the king -- he'll want to see this one himself."